This weekend we come to Pentecost Sunday, named from the Greek for ‘fiftieth day’ and celebrated on the Sunday that falls fifty days after Easter.
In the Old Testament the Feast of Pentecost was a harvest festival. It was one of the three great feasts celebrated every year and was a holiday for everyone. It marked the completion of the harvest, fifty days after the Passover.
Later, Pentecost was also regarded as the anniversary of the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.
And so, in our reading from Acts 2 we find throngs of people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast.
We also find a group of about 120 followers of Jesus together in an upper room praying. They were obeying Jesus’ command to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. And his promise came true in the form of wind, fire and languages. And so it was that Peter spoke boldly to the crowd, some of whom were initially very sceptical as they thought the disciples were drunk!
Having heard Peter’s message 3,000 believed and were baptised. There was a great harvest, and a new age dawned.
This was the birthday of the Church and since that day the story and message of Jesus has been spread throughout the world and the harvest has been and is being gathered in.
In Matthew’s Gospel we read that Jesus had compassion for the crowds of people he encountered, ‘because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’
I wonder how we might each play our part in gathering in that harvest. Individually we can pray, we can give, we can volunteer, we can tell. And as church communities we can ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to be outward looking in mission, so that ‘the Lord might add to our number those who are being saved.’
I hope you can join us as we celebrate the Church’s birthday on Sunday.
With best wishes, Stephen